Sunday, January 28, 2007

The
Mishnah says[2]
that according to Beis Shammai, the Rosh HaShanah (New Year) for trees is Rosh
Chodesh Shevat (the first day of the month of Shevat). However, the students of
Hillel rule that the New Year for trees is on the fifteenth of Shevat. Although
in Western Astrology the zodiacal representation of Aquarius is the water
bearer, in Kabbalah, the sign for the month of Shevat is the bucket of water
itself. Based on the words of Rashi[3], Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov
(1912-1976) explains[4] that by Tu B'Shvat most of
the rainy season's waters have already fallen, and the water collects in the
wells[5]. This signifies the end of
the process needed to nurture floral growth. Tu B'Shvat is not only an
important holiday for trees, but it even has meaning for people. This is
because trees and fruits are used throughout Torah literature to serve as
metaphors for humans.

In
the realm of Halacha, the Shulchan Aruch (Rabbi Yosef Karo, 1488-1575) rules[6]
that the custom is not to recite the Tachanun supplications on Tu
B'Shvat[7].The Magen Avrohom (Rabbi Abraham Abele Gombiner, 1633-1683) adds[8]
that on Tu B’Shvat there is a custom to increase our consumption of fruits.
Rabbi Yehuda Dov Zinger writes[9]
that the custom is specifically to eat fruits from the land of Israel and/or
fruits of the seven species for which the land of Israel is praised[10].
He also writes that there is a custom to specifically eat fifteen different
types of fruits and recite one of the fifteen songs of ascent[11]
between eating each of them. He records a custom in the name of Rabbi Chaim
Pelagi (d. 1868) to learn a specific chapter from the Mishnah after each of the
fifteen fruits: Eight of the chapters are from Tractate Peah, three from
Bikkurim, and four are from Rosh HaShanah. Others have the custom
of staying up all night learning Torah or reciting the Tikkun prepared
by the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, 1534-1572), entitled, Pri Eitz Hadar,
"A fruit from a beautiful tree", which is a reference to the fruit of
the Esrog (Citron) tree.

The
Satmar Rov, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum (1887-1979), asks[12] why
it is the custom to eat fruits on Tu B'Shvat, the New Year for trees, and while
on Shavuos, the day on which the world's fruits for the year are judged[13]
the custom is to decorate houses and synagogues with trees[14].
Logically, it should be the opposite. He explains[15]
that when a father is judged in the heavenly courts, in addition to considering
his own actions, the court also examines the actions of his children, to see if
the father raised the children properly. Similarly, when a child is judged, his
father’s actions are also taken into account. Therefore, on Tu B’Shvat, the day
when the trees are judged, the custom is to to give the trees more merits by
performing extra mitzvos using the fruits (their “children”), while on
Shavuos, the day when the fruits are judged, extra merits are acquired for the
fruits by using the trees for Mitzvos.

In a similar fashion, the Talmud[16]
compares blessing a Talmudic scholar to blessing a tree. When one Amora (Rabbi
from the time of the Talmud) requested a blessing from another, the latter
answered with a parable likening the situation to a man who walks in the desert
and comes across a tree. He eats from the tree, drinks from a nearby brook, and
sits in the tree’s shade. Afterwards, he wants to thank the tree for having
saved him from hunger, thirst, and brutal desert sun. However, he realizes that
there is nothing with which he can bless the tree because its fruits are
already sweet, a creek flows alongside it, and its shoots produce ample shade.
Therefore, he blesses the tree that all of its fruits should produce trees
which are similar to it. Similarly, a Talmudic scholar is already blessed with
all possible blessings. Therefore, the second Talmudic scholar gave the first
scholar the greatest possible blessing that he should father children who will
follow in his path of greatness.

The
Bnei Yissascher (Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Dinov, 1785-1841) writes[17]
that when the Mishnah states[18]
that Tu B'Shvat is the Rosh Hashanah for "the tree" in the singular
tense, instead of "trees" in the plural, the Mishnah was referring
specifically to "the tree" mentioned in the Torah: namely, the Esrog
(citron) tree[19].
Based on this, he writes that there is a custom to pray on Tu B'Shvat that he
should merit to be granted a beautiful Esrog fruit for use on the
holiday of Succos[20].
His great-great-grandson, the Munkatcher Rebbe (Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapiro of
Munkatch, 1871-1937), explained[21]
this concept in greater depth. The numerical value of Shevat is
equivalent to the numerical value of Ish (which means "man").
Because the word “Esrog” is treated grammatically in Hebrew as if it was
in the female tense, the Esrog is a representation of the feminine
component in the world. The Talmud says[22]
that is the nature of men to actively seek out women, but the nature of women
is not to seek men, therefore it serves to reason that during Shevat,
the month of "man", one would pray (thereby actively seeking) for a
beautiful Esrog, which represents the female element.

It was the custom of the Munkatcher Rebbe not to pickle or
otherwise prepare his Esrog for consumption until the eve of Tu B'Shvat.
In order to use the Esrog for another Mitzvah (after using it on
Sukkos) of eating fruit on Tu B'Shvat, he dipped it in each of the the
aforementioned seven species of fruits[23].
The Belzer Rebbe also had[24]
the custom of eating from the seven species in varied forms: He drank beer for
barley and wine for grapes, he ate bread for wheat, fish soaked in olive oil
for olives, date honey, pomegranates, and figs. It was also his custom to say
words of Torah at this meal. The Satmar Rebbe[25],
however, refrained from speaking Torah and instead sang Psalm 96.

The
Toldos Yitzchok, (Rabbi Yitzchok of Neshchiz) writes[26]that
the reason that the Talmud says[27]
that one must begin studying the laws of a holiday thirty days before the
holiday is because that is when the mystical influences of the holiday begin.
Therefore, since Tu B'Shvat is thirty days before the holiday of Purim (in a
regular non-leap year), the two must have some connection. He says that Shevat
can mean either "rod" or "throwing." Concerning Purim, the
Talmud explains[28]
that the Jews only sinned outwardly by bowing to the idol of Haman but really
they still believed in HaShem. So too HaShem only "outwardly" wanted
to punish the Jews by making them feel as if they were going to be destroyed,
He had no intention of allowing such a catastrophe to actually occur. Based on
this, the Toldos Yitzchok explains that in actuality Shevat means
both "rod" and "throwing". For the entire year until
Shevat, HaShem holds a "rod" as if to threaten the world that He will
destroy them if they do not act as they should. Once Shevat arrives, He
"throws" away the stick, and reveals that He was merely trying to
scare everyone into proper behavior. This is comparable to a father who rouses
fear in his son by threatening him with a rod. However, the father does not
intend to actually harm his dear son—he planned the ruse merely to ensure that
the son act appropriately.

In
the opening words of Psalms, King David, the psalmist, utilizes a simile to
describe a righteous Torah Jew. He writes, "He shall be like a deeply
rooted tree on the brooks of water…[29]."
In this, King David compares the upright Jew to an upright tree. Two other
prophets also use this comparison: Isaiah said, "Just like
the days of a tree, so too shall be the days of My people[30]"
and Jeremiah said, "He will be like a tree planted near the water[31]".
HaShem Himself has compared righteous Jews to trees when He said, "Man is
like the tree of a field.[32]"
Many Jewish customs developed because of this association between people and
trees. There is a law that one may not derive any benefit from a tree’s fruits
while the tree is within its first three years (regarding which Tu B'Shvat is
considered the beginning of a new year)[33].
Since people are compared to trees—more specifically to fruit trees—a custom
developed, based on the Arizal’s Kabbalistic teachings, to not cut a baby boy's
hair until he reaches the age of three years.

Rabbeinu Bachaya explains[34]
that people are compared to trees because their sustenance comes from trees.
King Solomon said, "Torah is a tree of life for all who those grasp it[35]."
Rabbi Akiva said[36]
that a Jew without a Torah is like a fish out of water. The Prophet Isaiah
invited all those who were thirsty to go to the waters[37];
The Talmud[38]
assumes that this "water" refers to Torah, and those who were thirsty
were seeking its wisdom. Indeed, the Talmud assumes that when King David desired
waters from the well in Beis Lechem[39], he
wished to clarify a halachik question. Just as water is the sustenance, from
which a tree feeds and grows, so too Torah is the sustenance from which a Jew
lives and thrives. The Torah is the water from which man—the tree—grows.

In addition to requiring water in order to be properly nurtured, a
tree also requires sunlight—fire. Similarly, in order to be successfully
developed, a Jew needs both the depths of the “waters of Torah” and the
passionate and fiery debates in Torah—the fire. While Isaiah compared men to
trees because both require water, Jeremiah asked rhetorically in the name of
HaShem, "Are My words not like fire?[40]"
The Talmud explains[41]
that just as a fire cannot burn alone, so too the words of Torah cannot prevail
in isolation and just as a fire is built from many logs, so too the words of
Torah survive only through the minds of the many. Interestingly, Moses began to
elucidate the Torah in great depth for the Jewish people (before his death, a
month and a week later) in the beginning of the month of Shevat[42].

A
custom popularized by contemporary society is to plant trees (especially in
Israel) on Tu B'Shvat. Although this custom lacks a clear source within
Rabbinic literature, one can conjecture that this custom developed from Az
Yashir which the Jews famously sang after the splitting of the Red Sea in Az
Yashir (which is always read on Shabbos Shira, the week of Tu B’Shvat). One
line of this song is "You shall bring them and plant them on the mountain
of Your heritage, the foundation of Your dwelling-place that has been prepared
by You, HaShem—the Sanctuary of HaShem which Your hands established.[43]"
Perhaps the source of the custom to plant trees in Israel stems from this
concept of planting something in Eretz Yisroel. However, others explain that
the planting mentioned in this passage refers not to physically planting
greenery in the Land of Israel, but rather to the building of the Holy Temple
in Jerusalem on Mount Zion—upon the mountain of HaShem's inheritance. Regarding
the conclusion of this verse the Talmud says, "Great is the Holy Temple
which is written in between two instances of HaShem's name.[44]"
May it be the will of HaShem that we merit to see the building of the HolyTemple,
speedily and in our days and return to our roots in Jerusalem: Amen.

[1] This essay was published in the “Young Israel Tu B’Shvat Virtual
Sourcebook” for 2008 and 2009 (http://www.youngisraelrabbis.org.il/downloads/TBS/). For a more extensive discussion of Tu B’Shvat and its meaning
and customs, see Birkas Dovid by Rabbi Avrohom Dovid Mandelbaum of Bnei
Baraq.

[15] A similar explanation is found in the writings of Rabbi Isaiah
Horowitz (1565-1630) who explained (in Shnei Luchos HaBris) why
Leviticus 26:42 lists the three forefathers in reverse chronological order instead
of the usual chronological listing

[19] Although others, such as Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen Rabinowitz of
Lublin (1823-1900), understand that the singular expression of "the
tree" refers to the Tree of Life (Eitz HaChaim) in the Garden of
Eden. See Pri Tzadik who elaborates on this concept at great length.